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Mucking around yesterday to find something to accompany some fish tacos, I spied upon this bottle. McDowell Vienyards is in Mendocino County and I bought this 100% Marsanne out of sheer curiosity because I have always thought of it being a blending wine rather than something that can stand alone. The purchase was several years ago and my initial thought was that it was over the hill. So, what the heck. We opened it. It was stopped with synthetic cork and briefly I hoped that the wine may have withstood the ravages of time. The initial nose was one of of almonds and a shadow of a whisper of citrus and then..the smell of oxidized wine. Slightly crestfallen, I took the first sip...Blech!! Had to go back and look for something more suitable and youthful. While this is not an adequate tasting note, at least it can serve as a warning!

Shame, Shaji, but if you put together the artificial cork and the fact that Marsanne tends to oxidize fairly easily, and you've got the trouble of which you experienced. Also, I think the McDowell is intended to be quick consumption.

Too bad! Under a screw top closure you might have had something interesting.

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Hoke wrote:Shame, Shaji, but if you put together the artificial cork and the fact that Marsanne tends to oxidize fairly easily, and you've got the trouble of which you experienced. Also, I think the McDowell is intended to be quick consumption.

Still and all----you did learn something, right?

Shame on me indeed. I should have known better. This was one of the bottles that I was "going to get to soon". This was more than 4 years ago. I got to it though and to furthered my education

James Roscoe wrote:Too bad! Under a screw top closure you might have had something interesting.

Actually James, I thought that the artificial cork might be a better stopper than natural cork (Dear God, don't let this evolve into a vigorous debate on the merits/demerits of various kinds of closures). I am a convert where screwcaps are concerned, but I think after the amount of time this wine had to endure, even that would have been for nought!

Shaji M wrote:Mucking around yesterday to find something to accompany some fish tacos, I spied upon this bottle. McDowell Vienyards is in Mendocino County and I bought this 100% Marsanne out of sheer curiosity because I have always thought of it being a blending wine rather than something that can stand alone. The purchase was several years ago and my initial thought was that it was over the hill. So, what the heck. We opened it. It was stopped with synthetic cork and briefly I hoped that the wine may have withstood the ravages of time. The initial nose was one of of almonds and a shadow of a whisper of citrus and then..the smell of oxidized wine. Slightly crestfallen, I took the first sip...Blech!! Had to go back and look for something more suitable and youthful. While this is not an adequate tasting note, at least it can serve as a warning!

Hi Shaji, I am sorry to hear of your experience with marsanne, because it is one of my favorite grapes, making one of my favorite wines. If you search the forum on Ch. Tahbilk you might find some of my posts regarding marsanne. I still have a couple bottles of the 1995 Tahbilk marsanne and am strongly considering a vertical of it at Mo'Cool this August. I think I have the 95, 98,99,00,02, and 06. IMO that should make for an interesting tasting. If you ever get a chance for the Tahbilk marsanne, or any of their wines I recommend you give them a try.